Fewer migrant children finish high school

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Efforts to boost the numbers of immigrant children finishing school have fallen flat, according to a government report to be released Wednesday, which shows the problem has actually become worse.

The integration report, to be presented in Berlin on Wednesday, found that 13.3 percent of children with immigrant backgrounds are leaving school without a certificate – one third more than in previous years – daily Die Welt reported on Tuesday.

The report found that while there is a small group of elite, immigrant youngsters who are gaining high qualifications, there is a growing number who have virtually no prospect of gaining an apprenticeship or training place after school – and therefore little chance of entering the job market.

The 13.3 percent of immigrant children aged 15 to 19 who are leaving without a certificate is a sharp rise on the 10.8 percent in 2005 and 10 percent in 2007.

It is also a problem among the broader German population, the report says, with the number of students leaving without any qualification climbing across the board from 5.4 percent in 2005 to 7 percent.

The report follows the recent release of a damning report that found that just one-tenth of students from immigrant backgrounds graduated from elite, university-track high schools under Germany's tripartite school system.

That compared poorly with the one third of German students graduating from a Gymnasium, according to the study by Paritätische Wohlfahrtsverband, an organisation dedicated to social justice.